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Serafina
Serafina di Merrovingia (formerly Principessa Serafina di Miromara) is the main protagonist of the Waterfire Saga and betrothed to Mahdi. Her best friend is Neela . Personality Raised with the burden of one day being the regina of Miromara, Serafina grew up as a lithe and graceful principessa but found it hard to be herself at court with the high expectations placed upon her by her mother and those around her. She learned to hide her emotions – a skill that comes in useful in many situations – to avoid any embarrassment at court. Serafina, democratic and loyal, is very concerned about pleasing others and though she tried to hide it at first, was afraid of failure and letting others, including her mother, down. She kept trying to shun her fears; believing that she just let others down and that they deserved better than her. Additionally, she believed that Mahdi left her to find someone better, which hurt her deeply. Her lack of self-confidence also made her feel rather plain, though other viewed her differently, and invisible. This caused her to become doubtful, uncertain of herself and insecure as she did not believe in herself or recognize the source of her power. Her tendency to avoid her fears led to many negative situations for herself and others. However, when she recognized the source of her power, love, at the end of Rogue Wave, Sera became much more confident, knowing that love made her strong and became very devoted to her people, vowing to do her best for them. Love helped her believe in herself and inspire others, who looked up to her for leadership. She become much more tougher with her new found self esteem, becoming the leader of the Black Fins, becoming skilled in military tactics, losing her gracefulness and replaced with sure, powerful movements, and uses her quick-thinking to her advatange. She is quite intelligent and has a knack for solving problems, with a passion for history and conchs. Furthermore, Serafina faces her dislike of death, going from being horrified at the death of a death rider in Deep Blue to being able to kill several death riders in Rogue Wave, though she still feels upset that she has to kill a conger eel in Dark Tide, demonstrating that she still hates death. However, Serafina can be quite stubborn, refusing to listen to others and following her instincts, which can lead her into trouble. Her own stubbornness clashes with Ava's in Dark Tide, as Sera can get annoyed with people who aren't concerned with doing the right thing and views cuts Ava off, viewing what she has to say has unimportant as she wanted to get on with more urgent matters. Despite her flaws, Sera always tries to do the right thing and is kind to those around her and comes to terms with herself as the strong, confident leader of the Black Fin Resistance. Appearance Serafina has a strong, bright copper tail with scales covering her torso and supple soft coral pink fins with green glints. She has long copper-brown hair halfway down her tail, dark green eyes, olive-hued skin and high cheekbones. Later, Neela cuts her hair into a tapered pixiecut and dyes it black to disguise herself. In Deep Blue, when Serafina first wakes up she wears a white sea-silk robe embroidered with gold thread, capiz shells and seed pearls. Later, after she swims into her antechamber, she wears a plain, light-blue sea silk gown. For her Dokimi, Serafina wears a simple gown of pale green sea silk and a deep green, exquisite, brocade mantle which is heavily embroidered with copper thread and studded with red corals, pearls and emeralds. At the palazzo, she wears an ivory robe for sleeping and when she wakes up Serafina puts on the blue sea silk dress the duca gave her. She later cuts her hair short unevenly while escaping from Rrorim Drol, causing Neela to cast a spell to make it longer for an hour. While travelling to the Iele, she casts a spell to temporarily change her hair colour and clothes. To disguise her, Neela cuts Serafina's hair into a sleek, edgy pixie cut with a spiky fringe and tapered to points at her cheekbones and dyes it black with squid ink. Her disguise outfit is a long, clingy grey dress with the arms cut off and the neckline slashed. Over it, she wears a loosely-knit black tunic and bicycle chains around her hips with her dagger in, she wears silver hoop earrings, black eye-liner, black squid ink lipstick and a silvery dusting of crushed abalone shell on her cheeks. In Rogue Wave, Serafina wears her swashbuckler clothes for most of the book, but she sometimes changes. When she goes to the palazzo, she uses an illusio spell to change her hair to pink, then green and changes her clothes to a a long black dress, a flowery tunic and a red gown. Serafina finally settles with black and long hair with a red silk scarf tied around her head, knotted at the nape of her neck and the ends trailing. She wears heavy black Kohl eye-liner and a beauty spot, deep crimson lipstick, a painted beauty spot, gold hoop earrings, a tight bustier and a short, floaty skirt. The illusio eventually fades away. At her betrothal, she wears a gown of the palest green seasilk which has fitted three-quarter length sleeves, a square neckline, a cinched waist and a skirt which gracefully skims her curves. She wears a brilliant-blue starfish in her hair and holds a bouquet of white and red coral. In Dark Tide, as a leader of the Black Fin Resistance, Serafina wears a short, dark blue military with black trim and camo fatigue that blends in with seaweed and her white shell ring. When she visits the Meerteufel, she wears a shimmering, blue sea-silk gown, a long, high-necked black coat, a choker made out of pearls and sapphires and a crown of pure gold. Relationships Neela Serafina is Neela’s best friend. They have a good relationship and hang out a lot together. Neela calls Sera her ‘merlfriend’ and is willing to risk her life for her. She is part of the resistance. Sera is very supportive of Neela and always believes in her. Mahdi Prince Mahdi is Serafina’s betrothed. She had a crush on him, but it vanishes when she discovers Mahdi's true nature. It is later revealed he never meant to leave her and was only doing his job as one of the Praedatori. He was disguised as Blu with Yazeed pretending to be Grigio. After confessing this to Serafina, the two make up and later exchange betrothal vows. Serafina and Mahdi are very close and exchange conchs about the resistance in Dark Tide. He later pretended to fall in love with Lucia and was betrothed to her. Blu Serafina is shown to have a possible crush on Blu. She is worried when he is shot with a spear gun in Venice. However, he was actually Mahdi in disguise. Slyvestre Slyvestre is Sera’s pet octopus. She is worried for him during, and after, the attack on Cerulea. In Rogue Wave, when Serafina returned to Cerulea to look for talismans, Slyvestre was nowhere to be found. Powers Sera is skilled at songspells and has a powerful voice. She can do bloodsong, camouflage spells, confutos, illusios and other canta prax spells with ease, but she is also shown to be excellent at canta mirus, a difficult type of song magic. At her Dokimi, she sings a canta mirus, in which she embellishes silt with colour to form images and enlarges them, transforms a shoal into silver fish and controls water and light to create vortexes and a sun sphere. As a mirus caster, she can bid light, wind, water and sound. It also shown that she is very powerful, as Serafina is able to travel through mirrors, unlike most mer. She is also good at combat, as she casts a stilo spell at Astrid and deflects her sword with a deflecto. The source of her power is love, the love she has for others. But in air, she struggles to project and it sounds tinny, flat, thin and strained. Despite this, she managed to create a twelve foot water vortex (a "waterspout" as described by Mfeme) while surfacing,but Mfeme's iron trawler deflected it. At the Iele's cave, she practises an apă piatră and learns how to do an ochi and convoca. Her, Neela, Ling , Becca and Ava do a bloodbind, allowing them to share abilities. She become excellent at frags, inherits Ling's omnivoxa powers which allow her to communicate most sea creature and mer languages, even though she is not that experienced, become amazing at waterfire and develops Ava's prophecy powers which allow her to have visions and sense things before they happen. She also practices canta malus, such as doing the bloodbind and a dark song spell. She is not hesitant to use canta malus as she kills a group of death riders with it to protect her friends. History Pre-Series Serafina was brought up with the burden that she would one day be queen of Miromara and lived the extravagant Merrovingian life in the Miromara Palace, with plenty of gowns and jewels. She was close with her father, sharing many dances with him at balls. However, she felt the constant pressure to be perfect and thought that she could never be herself at court. Additionally, her mother's high expectations of her also added to the pressure and her days were filled with songcasting, lectures and hippokamp-riding. When she was fourteen, the royal Matalin family came to Miromara and she and Mahdi developed a romantic relationship, though Mahdi seemed to change. Deep Blue On the morning of her Dokimi, Serafina dreams of a prophecy telling her to find five other mermaids by the Iele as they circle a monster in the waterfire. She wakes up with a start while being scolded by her mother, IsabellaRegina Isabella, and the two end up arguing but this ends when Isabella is informed of another raid in her kingdom and exits. Full of nerves, Serafina goes to prepare herself for the day but stops when she hears someone singing the chant from her dream and in her mirror, she sees a river witch from her dream, Baba Vraja, who beckons her to come closer. Suddenly, a man with no eyes appears in the mirror and starts walking out of it until her nurse, Tavia, appears and both of them disappear. Tavia dismisses it as a pesky vitrina but Serafina thinks she's wrong. While practising her songspell, Tavia tells Serafina that Mahdi has changed a lot. This is confirmed when she overhears her ladies-in-waiting gossiping. In particular, she hears Lucia Volnero describing how she, Mahdi and her friends went out shoaling. She then mocks Serafina about her dress and tells her that Mahdi already has a lover. Masking her humiliation, Serafina pretends she's not bothered and manages to thwart Lucia's attempt to embarrass her. But her pet octopus Sylvestre senses her anger and ruin's Lucia's hair, chases her pet and messes up the room. This is interrupted when Thalassa, the canta magus enters the room. Ordering the ladies-in waiting out, Thalassa helps Serafina with her songspell but when she comes to the part about a prince, Serafina is reminded of Lucia's words and loses control. Angry and emotional, she declares she can't do it and that she's not good enough. Thalassa helps Serafina calms down and relates to her about the constant pressure to be perfect. Serafina tells her about her romantic past with Mahdi, but is interrupted by Neela. The two exit the palace and chat, only to discover Mahdi and Yazeed passed out in the ruins of Merrow's palace. Confused and hurt by Mahdi's change, Serafina ignores Mahdi's pleas and swims away. Heartbroken, Serafina swims to her mother's stateroom and overhears her and her ministers discussing about who was behind the raids. Vallerio thinks it Kolfinn, ruler of Ondalina and he pushes Isabella to declare war. Isabella says she will, but only with an alliance from Matali which will scare Kolfinn off. Serafina realises she has to go through with her Dokimi to prevent war and vows to herself she'll make Isabella proud. At her Dokimi, Serafina is declared of blood and sings her songspell. Just as she finishes it, her mother is hit by an arrow, her father murdered and the city is stormed by assassins. She is escorted to the palace by guards, where she meets Neela and discovers that her mother was poisoned by the arrow. The poison came from Ondalina and the troops were wearing black, signifying that Kolfinn had attacked them. Sitting by her injured mother, Serafina listens as she tells her to go to the fortress town of Miromara. A dragon bursts through the wall along with many soldiers and Isabella demands that she goes to the vaults for safety. Serafina refuses, not wanting to leave her mother, so Neela drags her away. Chased by soldiers, the pair run to Neela's room instead, as it is closer than the vaults. They cast a transperansea spell and escape through a window, just as the soldiers burst in. On the run, they meet Zeno Piscor who leads them to an eel cave to rest in. They narrowly avoid being caught by the troops and Captain Traho and rest for the night. The next morning, Baco Goga wakes Serafina up, ties her hands behind her back and gags her. He then wakes up Neela and tie her hands behind her with live eels. He then explains that Traho put a bounty on them, meaning that he is going to hand them over to Traho. His eels then steal their jewellery and as Serafina tries to fight back, causing them to bite her tailfin. They then find out that Zeno betrayed them and told them to sleep in Baco's cave.Handed over to the soldiers, Serafina is restrained by iron cuffs, an iron gag and a blindfold and thrown in a net. She and Neela are taken to a camp, where she finds Thalassa and is questioned by Traho about the Iele's chant, but she lies. Meeting up with Thalassa and Neela, she discovers that Neela had the same dream and realise that Traho wants the talismans so he can harness Abaddon's power. They are later rescued by Blu, Verde and Grigio. On the swim, the group escape the camp and Blu tends to Serafina's tail. He explains that Traho has been interrogating people about her disappearance and that he had executed many, which causes Serafina to feel guilty and heartsick, but Blu reassure her it they died because of Traho. They suddenly hear death riders call out to the Praedatori, which Serafina suddenly realises are Blue, Verde and Grigio. She angrily accuses him of helping them so he could ransom to the highest bidder but he replies and says he took her away from the highest bidder, Traho, and was taking them to his leader, Kharkarias, who wants to help them. Serafina reluctantly leaves Thalassa behind, listening spellbound as she performed a magnificent songspell and summoned giant vortexes to fight off the death riders. They travel to the poverty-struck Lagoon where Serafina helps a poor mother by demanding Blu to give his earring for her to sell. She is recognised by some but Blu warns her that some would be willing to sell her to Traho. Arriving at Karharias's palazzo, the mermen abandon them in a swimming pool which is situated in a library, leaving her and Neela alone. A Mermish-speaking human appears, announcing himself as the duca di Venezia, leader of the Praedatori, and explains that he is part of the duchy which protect the sea. Serafina asks why he was involving himself with a mer issue when the Praedatori fight humans, and he responds with that, Mfeme, a brutal fishermen has been helping Kolfinn. At night, Serafina wakes up to see Vraja in a mirror telling her to find her and the palazzo is raided by Traho and his accomplices, forcing Neela and Sera to dive into the mirror. In Vadus, the mirror realm, the mirror lord, Rrorim Drol, corners Serafina and traps her by picking out her deepest fears but with Neela's encouragement, she breaks free and they swim towards a mirror they think will lead them to the River Olt, the home of the and have a narrow escape. They end up in Radneva, the Black Sea and meet Ling, an omnivoxa who is also travelling to see the Iele. On heir journey, Ling tells Serafina that she has to accept that her mother may be dead, but Sera refuses and goes shoaling. In the shoal, she hears frantic cries and realises Ling is trapped in a net. They soon realise that she is being drawn up to Mfeme's ship but he eventually Ling is released, but is left with a broken wrist. On the rest of their journey, they meet Becca and Ava and go to the Iele's cave, where Astrid is. After a confrontation with Astrid, Sera calms down when Vraja enters. They soon learn they are descendants of powerful mages and one of them, Orfeo, created Abaddon. Astrid leaves in the night, leaving the rest of them to learn new, tiring spells. Without warning, Traho and his death riders storm the cave and the mermaids dive into the mirror. Rogue Wave In Vadus, the mirror realm, Serafina encounters Rrorim Drol but she manages to overwhelm him with her fear, leaving him helpless. She enlists the help of a silverfish to take her to the mirror of Atlantis and dives through the small, jagged mirror. Sera meets Ling in Morsa's temple, where people were sacrificed. They then go to the public baths and meet a vitrina, Lady Thalia, who tells them that Orfeo went mad with grief after his wife died and summoned Morsa to help him get her back. Morsa gave him a black pearl talisman and he sacrificed people in the temple as an offering to her and with Morsa's knowledge, eventually created Abaddon to help him get his wife back. Thalia also reveals that Merrow's talisman is a blue diamond and Navi's talisman is a moonstone. Before Thalia can tell them the rest of the talismans cannibal creatures, the Opafago, corner her and Ling and Rrorim Drol and the man with no eyes appear in the mirror. Serafina is forced to smash the mirror and casts a strong vortex spell to blow out a wall of the public baths to escape. She and Ling go their separate ways and Serafina heads to the palazzo. When she arrives, she finds out that the duca had been killed and ah her uncle is going to seek an alliance with some gobins. The maid, Filomena, helps her with her disguise, as she has to swim through the soldier-filled Lagoon to get to her next destination, Cerulea. In the Lagoon, a group of drunken death riders mistake her for a siren (someone who sings for money) and she is forced to come with them to a bar. They recognise her as the principessa but she uses her Moses potion to make them fall asleep and escapes. She arrives at Cerulea but spots a death rider patrol led by Mahdi and becomes horrified as it is the ultimate betrayal. Arriving at a safe house, Sera confronts Mahdi and he reveals that he is doing it for the Praedatori and his whole party boy act was fake (he did it so he could pick up information) and that he is Blu. He also tells her that he is Traho's prisoner and is pretending to love Lucia and also that Isabella is dead. The safe house is raided by death riders but she manages to escape to the Ostrokon where she meets the Black Fin Resistance, a small group of fighters. She joins and studies the conches, realising that Merrow hid the talismans in a journey she made called Merrows's progress and that she hid her talisman off the shores of Spain. More research leads her to find out that the talisman is located in a shipwreck and travels to it, where she meets the ghost of it, Maria Theresa. She tells her how a pirate tried to steal her blue diamond so she threw the fake one into the sea and hid the real one. The infanta gives he the talisman in exchange for Sera to take her to the coast of Spain. This is dangerous because a shipwreck ghost's touch is lethal if prolonged. She holds hand with the infanta and takes her to the shore of Spain, but the journey costs her dearly as the infanta drained the life out of her. Mahdi and Coco find her on the beach turning blue but manage to save her. They take her to a farmhouse off the coast of Costo Brava where she and Mahdi get engaged, then they travel to Cerulea where her uncle returns with an army of goblins called the Kobold. In the Kolisseo, Lucia does her Dokimi, proving that her mother Portia and Vallerio had an affair and gets betrothed to Mahdi. She realises that it was Vallerio and Portia taking over Miromara and Matali. She and Coco meet up with Neela and Yazeed and they hide in a kelp forest, where she stumbles across her parent's graves. Coco finds a broken coral crown belonging to Isabella but fixes it and places it upon Sera's head, declaring her the regina. Sera whispers to her mother's graves that she doesn't know what to do and spots the plaque on her mother's grave and realises her greatest power is love. Dark Tide Serafina, now a confident leader of the Black Fin Resistance, leads a mission to enter the palace's treasury and steal the treasure so she can fund the BFR. She and her comrades enter through the Traitor's Gate and underneath the palace to the pipes and follow the old ones to where the treasury vaults are. She cast an ochi to check that Mahdi has dimmed the lights for the lightworks, as when they divert lava off the main lines, the lava pressure will drop. Serafina punctures a whole in the pipe and they divert the lava into the pipe, but too much comes out and flows towards hem instead of breaking down the treasury walls. She manages to close the pipe and feels disappointed that they couldn't get into the treasury. But, there is a bang and it is revealed that the lava brought down a whole wall of the treasury and they can steal way more treasure than they planned. However, death riders hear the noise and arrive just as they are hauling out treasure and Sera is stabbed in the tail by a speargun and death rider starts winding the line in. Her friend Sophia cats a transparensea pebble and cuts the line, hauling Sera away from the treasury and into the reggia. They reach the stables and realise there are three Blackclaw dragons clinging to the ceiling. Silently slipping down a crack in the floor, Sera realises they are in a tomb (with no bodies) that Merrow built in remembrance for her fellow mages. There is a massive mosaic that shows all six mages holding their talismans. Category:Merpeople Category:Royalty Category:Descendants Category:Merls Category:Merrovingia Category:Characters